Oz multinational bank to introduce 'banking service' via Facebook

Sydney, July 6 (ANI): Australia's Commonwealth Bank (CBA) is to offer banking via Facebook by the end of this year, in which people can pay each other and receive money electronically.

David Lindberg, Executive General Manager of Card Payments and Retail Strategy, said the bank is set to introduce a beta Facebook banking application, which is currently in beta testing and had taken into consideration the lack of privacy and security of Facebook in its design as it was further developed.

"We know that there are customers who just do not want their financial information sitting on Facebook. For those customers, of course, there is no reason to use [the application]," Tech.com.au quoted Lindberg, as saying.

The bank has demonstrated the Facebook banking application that will allow customers to do all their banking transactions, including paying others and collecting money without leaving the social network.

The service which will allow users to see their statements, pay with Bpay, transfer money between accounts and request payments from friends or groups, is likely to be launched by December.

The bank's Chief Marketing and Online Officer Andy Lark said the institution wasn't seeking to reinvent banking, but rather "help people manage their money and their lives" in ways that suited them.

"We as a society have migrated to Facebook [...] social banking is here," the Sydney morning Herald quoted Lark, as saying.

He said security would be a top priority for the bank, which was already preparing to fend off potential scamming attempts.

The social banking move is likely to add to the disappearance of cash in favour of digital money, or electronic transactions, as Australians embracing technologies such as mobile banking and services like PayPal.(ANI)